Round and Round
by honestgrins
Summary: It never seems to stop, they just keep finding themselves in these situations. Klaus will always love Caroline, and Caroline will always fall for Klaus. Round and round they go... (klarolineinfinity drabble collection)
1. Drawn to Life

**Day 1 - AU/AH**

 **Caroline's finally getting to voice an animated character (her dream!), but she didn't know how much time and effort goes into it as a creative team. She's paired with Klaus, who studies her character traits and facial movements to bring life to the screen.**

* * *

"Hold still, please."

Caroline fought the urge to fidget as the massive camera revolved around her, capturing her image from every possible angle. It was hard not to track the man operating the camera with her eyes. His attention to the placement of her freckles was almost invasive, but he was incredibly hot.

The brass curls were artfully mussed, just enough that Caroline wanted to run her fingers through them. And his lips, god, they were so pink-

She shook her head, hoping to get rid of whatever lusty demon had taken hold of thoughts. Really, it was her own fault for swearing off dating after Tyler moved out. A cleanse was standard breakup routine, but maybe three months was too long.

"I said to hold still," Klaus snapped, though his hand was gentle as he gripped her chin. "If we don't get the digital model right, I'll have to start all over."

Sighing, Caroline reluctantly did as he demanded. Despite her success as an actor, she'd never quite broken the habit of failing to take direction gracefully. Blame growing up with a sheriff for a mother; defying authority was in her blood.

Forcing herself to remain frozen, she tried to remember it was for a good reason. As a little girl, she had always dreamt of being a Disney princess. With their latest animated franchise casting Caroline as the lead, her dream was finally coming true.

Klaus was her assigned animator, the artist responsible for building her character's face in accordance with the way she talked. It all seemed like a science fair exhibit to her, the way he explained how he would manipulate a digital doll with her bone structure to move with her lips as she recorded her lines. He seemed passionate about the process, if not the actual work itself. As he coolly regarded her eyebrows for another picture, he seemed almost robotic.

"There, we should be done," he declared plainly. Moving the camera aside, he helped her to step down from the lit platform specially designed for the digital capture studio.

Caroline did her best not to note how warm and large his hand was against hers. "So, what now?" she asked, curious. She had been warned the production process would take longer than she was used to on live films.

Going to his computer, Klaus barely spared her a glance as he sat down to work. "Um, my team and I will need some time to formulate the digital model and coordinate its coding. We'll need you in for testing, to make sure it works properly. I believe those appointments are set through your agent."

"Oh." Katherine was new to the animated feature game, too, so she hadn't been able to explain how it all worked.

Klaus smirked, the first hint of actual personable contact since their brusque meeting earlier that morning. "You seem disappointed."

"It's weird, like I'm just an accessory to the character," she frowned. Noticing him watching her, Caroline laughed at herself. "Sorry, I'm not usually Miss Introspective Artist."

"Funny, because I'm more the brooding artist type myself," he offered.

Smiling, Caroline settled against one of the other desks. "I didn't know it was possible to brood over a computer screen," she teased. "Well, unless it follows another engagement or baby announcement on Facebook."

Klaus nodded, chuckling. "And I didn't know it was possible for famous actresses to be jealous over such petty things."

"We all have our weaknesses," she sighed. "And I'm not that famous."

"Tell that to my sister." Klaus leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. "She nearly bruised my arm in her excitement when she realized I would be working with you."

Fluttering her lashes, she gave a flirty pout. "Poor baby."

"Feel free to kiss it better," he flirted right back.

Well, that was an improvement.

"That sounds like an invitation," she tested, not wanting to get her hopes up. Everything in her was already screaming that it was entirely unprofessional, but something about Klaus just worked for her. "Isn't there some rule against fraternizing with the talent in your animator's code?"

Averting his eyes, almost bashful, Klaus slowly shook his head. "Probably, but I've never been one to follow rules," he admitted. He met her gaze full on, challenge clear in his expression. "What about you, love?"

Despite her better angels, Caroline found herself nodding. "Since I'm apparently done for the day, do you want to grab a late lunch?"

Klaus stood before slowly walking over to her. "I'm afraid I already ate."

Jutting out her chin, she shrugged. "Good thing I wasn't thinking about going to a restaurant."

He had grabbed her hand to stride through the door before she even finished speaking.

* * *

It was surprisingly easy to fool around with Klaus. Caroline had a strict "no one in show business" rule after her first year in Los Angeles was littered with heartbreak and fuckboys just looking for a good time.

With Klaus, though, the casual enjoyment of each other was fun and liberating.

Test sessions were like foreplay for them, his team acting as voyeurs to their personal game. He would sit in the corner of their tech room, where he met her eyes over the edge of her microphone as she squirmed in the recording booth. Marcel and Davina would all but flee once they were finished, leaving Klaus and Caroline to take their foreplay to more private and satisfying location.

When it came to recording for real, Caroline was disappointed to find that Klaus's team was nowhere around. "They have cameras rigged up," Katherine had explained in a bored voice after her first session. "The techies are back in their basement, where they belong."

Her agent's snide elitism wasn't new, but it definitely rubbed Caroline the wrong way. "Without them, I wouldn't have this film to sing for," she defended hotly.

Katherine just raised a curious eyebrow. "What's gotten under your skin?"

"Nothing." Caroline slung her purse on her shoulder, already trying to forget the strange feeling Katherine's words stirred in her.

* * *

He liked to draw her, his pencil flying across the sketchbook perched on his knee as she laid in bed. "I don't think Disney would approve of this," she teased as she hooked her chin over his shoulder. "I'm a princess, you know. I have an image to maintain."

"But you look so lovely wearing just a sheet." He craned his neck to kiss her. "Hmm, and you taste even better," he hummed.

Setting aside his book, Klaus turned to pin her back to the bed.

Caroline giggled as he pressed sucking kisses down her neck. The strange feeling returned with each lingering brush of his lips. "What are we doing?"

His head popped up with a frown. "I hope enjoying another hour before I have to get back to the studio," he answered, unsure. Watching her bite her lip, his frown deepened. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

Pulling his face toward her, she gave him a lingering kiss of her own. "Nothing," she smiled wanly before kissing him again.

She wanted to enjoy this while she still could.

* * *

"Is that me?" she asked excitedly, watching the little princess dance across the screen.

Klaus smiled, watching her. "It's just the main elements, lacking certain details that will come when we add in the scenery. But yes, love, that's you."

It was her last day on the campus, having finished her recording sessions. Tears pooled in her eyes unexpectedly as she turned to him, grasping at his arms. "I can't believe this, it's literally a dream come true." Her face hurt from smiling so much. "Thank you, Klaus."

"It wasn't just me-"

"Oh, please," Caroline snorted. "You don't have to hide your ego from me." She hugged him tightly before turning to look at the screen again. "This is amazing. I thought she was supposed to have red hair?"

Shrugging, Klaus kept his arms around her waist. "I wanted her to look more like you," he admitted easily.

Caroline twined her fingers with his across her stomach. "Why?"

"Because I want to remember this." He took a terrifyingly long moment to gather his thoughts, and Caroline felt so tense. "I'm afraid you'll go on to your next project, leaving me with nothing but memories."

"Is this the brooding artist you warned me about?"

"Caroline-"

"I know," she sighed, leaning into him. The strange feeling settled in her stomach, bubbling from the uncertainty surrounding their situation. "We haven't really gone out, I wasn't sure you wanted to-"

He twirled her to face him, that invasive intensity she remembered from their first meeting. "I want to," he answered her unspoken question.

Her mouth tugged into a small grin, unwilling to believe what he was implying. "Even if you don't get to draw me every day?"

"I'll still draw you every day," he promised. "I just won't get paid for the honor."

She groaned at the cheesy line, only to fall into giggles at his goofy smile. "Come here." Caroline pulled him closer, kissing him softly. "You can draw me whenever you want."

"After dinner, tonight," he whispered against her lips. "Say yes, sweetheart."

Shaking her head, Caroline nipped at his lower lip. "Okay," she said, defiant to the end.

She was a princess, after all; she didn't have to follow directions from anyone.


	2. Dear Future Husband

**Day 2 - Pre-canon**

 **Thirteen was an ugly age for Caroline: braces, frizzy hair, her parents' bitter divorce. But there was a part of her that knew she was destined for more, and she kept her hopes high. She probably shouldn't have put them in writing, though…**

* * *

"Caroline!"

She squeezed her knees tighter to her chest, digging her bright orange nails into the skin of her palms. Maybe it was babyish to hide in her parents' closet, but she didn't want to go outside. Instead, she cowered in the dark and recently half-emptied closet, waiting for her mother to track her down.

Damn those cop instincts.

The door slid open, and Liz poked her head inside. "Sweetie," she said in that sternly sweet voice. "It's time to say goodbye."

"No." Caroline hated the tears burning in her eyes; she wished she would never cry again. "I shouldn't have to say goodbye because he shouldn't be leaving."

"Your father is waiting."

Liz reached out a hand, which Caroline reluctantly accepted. "He can wait forever," she muttered.

"He already has," Liz answered sadly, in that voice adults use when they don't want the kids to understand. "Come on, you'll regret not giving him a hug."

Shaking her head, all the anger in Caroline's chest wanted to burst out. "No!" She pushed past her mother to run out of the room, then the house altogether; she made sure to use the side door to avoid where Bill Forbes and his packed car waited out front.

As fast as she could, Caroline ran to Bonnie's house. Her pigtails whipped behind her the whole way. Out of breath, she knocked on the door in a rush until someone answered. "Grams!"

Sheila took in the bright red face, swollen with tears. "Come on in, child," she said in understanding. "Bonnie's in her room."

"Thanks," Caroline nodded frantically, not even caring about the accidental lisp caused by her braces. Usually a terrible insecurity, she had bigger issues to deal with at that moment.

Bonnie held her as she cried, choking out a detailed explanation of each piece of clothing her dad had packed and the way her mom looked pinched as she watched from the corner of their bedroom. She sobbed at the sheer loneliness of her house now that one-third of its occupants would be disappearing.

"He's just going to Georgia," Bonnie tried to comfort her. "You'll still be able to visit, to see him."

"I know." And Caroline did know, it wasn't like Bonnie and her mom - and god, did she feel like a bitch for making her best friend deal with her emotional freak-out. "How stupid is that? I don't want to see my dad because soon I won't get to see him all the time."

Laughing, Bonnie hugged her more tightly. "Pretty stupid."

"And my mom, ugh," Caroline groaned. "How do you get married to someone so completely wrong for you without knowing?"

"Maybe she did know," Bonnie shrugged. "Or maybe she's as sad as you are right now."

"I'm not sad." Wiping her eyes, Caroline sat up as her thoughts collided into realization. "I'm scared. If my dad can leave my mom, me, what's going to stop my future husband from leaving, too?"

Familiar with the beginnings of a Caroline Forbes panic spiral, Bonnie fell back on a tried and true method of dealing with it. "Want to make a list?" she asked, reaching for a pad of paper. "You like lists. We can write down everything you want in a husband, then you can make sure you find the perfect guy for you."

Mulishly, Caroline wiped away her tears. "Actually attracted to me should be number one," she muttered.

"Fine." Bonnie wrote it down with a flourish. "I'm assuming he should also be hot."

"Incredibly so," Caroline laughed. "Rich and powerful would be a nice touch."

"But only if lets you boss him around."

"And buys me pretty things."

"Just because he was thinking of you."

Caroline sighed. "These guys don't exist in Mystic Falls."

"We're thirteen," Bonnie pointed out. "Who knows who'll turn up before we leave for college?"

"Somewhere fabulous, where we never have to think about this tragic small town ever again."

Tragic was the only word for it. Even as she thought about what that really meant, her father was probably crossing the town line without bothering to look back. There was nothing to keep him there, not when there was something better out in the world. If he could have that, why couldn't she?

Laying back on the bed, Caroline stared at Bonnie's ceiling as she dreamed of a future she didn't believe could ever happen. "If only…"

* * *

"I don't know, love," Klaus whispered against her shoulder as he stared at the decades-old list in Bonnie's handwriting. "I think you managed to capture my personality perfectly all those years ago."

Caroline pushed back playfully. "We're not married," she said. "And you're not that hot."

Klaus flipped her to her stomach, laying his body down the line of her back so he could whisper into her ear. "That's not what you said this morning."

"This morning, Kol hadn't slipped that noted under our door." She fought a moan as his hand stroked up her leg. "I'll never understand how Bonnie puts up with him, or how we let them tag along on our trip to Amsterdam."

Chuckling, Klaus rolled to her side and played with her hair. "Kol has laid something of a claim on Amsterdam, 'a city after his own heart' as he says. I'm more concerned how he managed to get ahold of this piece of paper." He picked at the edges of the frayed note. "It's like he knows more about you at this age than I do."

Sliding her leg over him, Caroline moved herself to sit on his lap. "You know me better than anyone anymore," she whispered. "Thirty years together, I shouldn't have to tell you this." She leaned down to press kisses along his cheek. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll write you a list of all the things you don't know about the Caroline Forbes you never met."

Klaus gave her an adoring look, grasping her face gently between his hands. "I want to know it all."

Somewhere deep inside, Caroline wanted to high five her thirteen-year-old self for finding everything she didn't even know she wanted in Klaus. She did pretty damn well for herself.


	3. Survivor

**Day 3 - Post-canon**

 **It was weird, to be the last one standing from Mystic Falls; no one expected little Caroline Forbes to outlive them all. She had made friends over the decades, sure, but it wasn't the same as someone who'd known her literally all her life. The closest she had left to a life-long friend was...well, not a friend.**

* * *

She didn't want to draw attention to herself, not with pictures of her face looking exactly the same littered toward the front of the funeral home. As Caroline drew closer to the casket, the pictures drastically changed. Family portraits, selfies at birthday parties, dancing with a man who looked at her like she hung the moon - Elena had aged well through the years and seemed happy, too.

But sixty years after Damon sent her away from Mystic Falls, Elena succumbed to her all-too-human fate.

Somehow, Caroline was the only one left to attend her funeral. Vampire Barbie was the lone survivor, and no one saw it coming. Bonnie died before Elena could live, Jeremy got caught up in hunting until a werewolf tore him apart. Matt's heart gave out, too much stress taking its toll from an early age. Ridding the world of Katherine Pierce wasn't the way Damon dreamed of going, but it was worth the ultimate sacrifice of a life with Elena where he'd have to bury her anyway.

Caroline already had to bury Stefan fifteen years before, and that pain still ached from time to time. It was those days she thought Damon had the right idea of going out in a blaze of glory.

Staring at Elena's face, the embalming fluid filling some of the lines and crags Caroline would never earn, she wondered if that's what it meant to survive: to feel left behind as her loved ones went where she couldn't follow.

A tear fell down her cheek as she bid Elena farewell to an afterlife of Bonnie's creation. She could sense Elena's children watching her, wondering, but Caroline swept out of the room before they could ask the questions she would inevitably compel from their memories.

 _Yes, I knew your mother._

 _I loved her, she was my friend._

 _She's in a better place now, I promise._

It was part of the deal in sending her away. Damon compelled her to never look back; Elena kept her memories, but she didn't reminisce on them or the people she loved. To her, they were ghosts.

To Caroline, they really were.

Once in the car, she called both Lizzie and Josie. Both settled with families of their own, it wasn't easy to explain Grandma looking seventeen, but they made it work over the years. Ric had passed just after their college graduations, as proud as could be. It fell to Caroline to keep their family together, strange as it might be, but they were still family.

"You can come stay with me and Holly, Mom," Lizzie promised through the phone.

"Yeah," Josie added on her end. "We don't want you to feel like you can't include us in this."

It was an old argument as the girls grew up. More than sixty years years old, and they still bickered over joining the adult conversations.

Wiping more tears as they fell, Caroline still managed to smile. "I'm okay," she assured her daughters. "I'm going to go back to the hotel, draw a relaxing bath, and have a good cry. I just wanted to hear your voices. Love you."

"Love you,too," they echoed as she pulled into her hotel's parking lot. By the time Caroline made it to her room, her tears were mostly gone. "Hey," she called, setting her purse on the table.

"Perfect timing, love," Klaus answered from the suite's bathroom. "I just drew you a bath."

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she hugged him tightly. "Thank you."

Klaus rubbed her back gently. "I wanted to make you feel better," he admitted. Five years together was a blip in his lifetime, but he was learning what it meant to care for her, quite literally. "How am I doing?"

She cracked a smile as she remembered him asking a similar question nearly a century earlier. "You're perfect," she sighed, hugging him again.

Releasing her, Klaus helped to remove her jacket. "Was it worth the trip?" he asked, genuinely curious. He wasn't one for sentimentality past a certain point, or only drawn to the emotion in the most inappropriate ways. Stealing love letters from those he killed was an act of attrition, but keeping them was a connection to his lost humanity; taking great pains to attend a funeral where she only knew the deceased, and not for many years, just did not compute for him.

Yet, he made no complaint about her sudden desire to flee their Tuscan villa for Elena's visitation in Boston. He held her hand the whole plane ride over, if only because he didn't know how else to ease her pain.

They planned to make the most of their trip, dropping in on Rebekah and Hope in New York once they've had their fill of Boston. Klaus had offered to meet up with Lizzie and Josie as well, but Caroline had begged off; they were all taking an Alaskan cruise for her birthday in a few months.

"I called the girls from the car," she told him, leaning on his shoulder. "They sounded good."

Klaus hummed in her ear. He could hear her thoughts building, and he was content to wait her out.

Sniffling, Caroline squeezed her eyes shut. "What happens when I need you to bring me to their funerals?"

He kept rubbing her back as she cried, the realization crashing around her as it did through the years. She was a vampire who'd outlived her generation and then some, but she had yet to lose the next - her daughters. Klaus knew he was lucky: Hope was a hybrid in her own right, possibly with more potential for immortality than himself. Kissing her hair, he offered what comfort he could. "Then we'll face those days together," he answered simply. "I will be with you every step of the way."

Caroline Forbes might have been the last one standing, but she felt luckier than ever that she didn't have to do it alone.


	4. The Moment He Lost Her

**Day 4 - During Canon**

 **TVD 4x13 Klaus rarely regretted his impulsive nature. In a thousand years, there was no problem of his own making that could not be rendered moot with time or some other pressing situation. With Caroline, however, he was learning that even his millennium of experience had nothing on the pull of this one baby vampire.**

* * *

The door slammed shut, the sound like a jolt to Klaus's system as he watched them through the window.

Tyler carefully placed Caroline in the passenger seat of his car. Her pained gasp at the rub of her seatbelt was all that kept Klaus from rolling his eyes; she was a vampire who hardly needed such a safety measure.

He would have muttered a mocking joke they could easily from outside, if only he could find it funny. Humor had left him entirely at the realization that Caroline was leaving without the cure to the poison in her veins - the poison he put there.

Rubbing a frustrated hand through his hair, Klaus wanted more than anything not to care. She was the one to provoke him, to allow her wounded puppy off his leash to pick a battle he couldn't win. As the Original Hybrid, it was only to be expected for Klaus to react badly to the challenge posed by mere high schoolers. They ought to have felt lucky that a nasty bit was all he gave.

But as he watched Tyler drive away, the pit of regret in his stomach began to fester.

Klaus Mikaelson didn't have the time or patience for regret. The bitter self-awareness wasn't something he enjoyed and actively ignored in favor of more fulfilling diversions. A thousand years of guilt and seeking absolution seemed like an utter waste of his attention when he could drown his sins in a gorge of blood.

The stray taste of the rusted stain on his lip, however, sobered him completely. He had bitten Caroline on impulse. Less than three seconds of pleasurable spite had obliterated the last vestiges of her goodwill, the conviction that no matter what he might do to destroy others, Klaus would never hurt her.

With the burning look of hatred in her eyes as she stared him down, Klaus was sure that conviction had been lost.

It was a familiar realization; Klaus usually revelled in it. Perhaps the last time he felt so conflicted was when Rebekah had woken after her long sleep. Centuries of watching him dagger their brothers, but she was only incensed when he dared to turn on her. A part of him wanted to throw the comparison in Caroline's face, if only to elicit that competitive gleam of anger her expression adopted at any sign of challenge.

Caroline wouldn't rise to the bait anymore, not after his rash decision to bite her and especially if she wasn't healed in time before-

"No!" he growled, overturning the chair he'd been gripping too tightly. He paced the room in his agitation. The smell of his brother's ashes still burned in his nose, and death permeated his every sense. At least he could blame the doppelganger and her idiot brother for killing Kol - plotting their slow deaths would easily help to pass the time until he could leave their wretched living room.

But the worsening wound on Caroline's neck was no one's fault but his own.

Klaus wasn't even sure if he would take it back if he could. A crisis of conscience wasn't something he often suffered, but he should have known that little Caroline Forbes could inspire one. He didn't want her to die; even less did he want to be the cause. Those desires might not overpower his pride, he realized in horror.

As angry as he was at their stupidity, of leaving behind the only cure that could save her, Klaus was almost grateful to have the choice taken from his hand. Out of character for him, maybe, but that's what Caroline did. He constantly found himself doing things he never would, because of her. Biting her might be his most authentic action since allowing her even the slightest influence.

She couldn't mean his ruin if she were dead.

Clenching his fists, Klaus tried to push away the images filling his mind of her graying body. Would she be hallucinating yet?

Would she be thinking of him?

He hated that he wondered. If he could just get out of the godforsaken Gilbert house, he wouldn't have to wonder at all. He might charter a jet, get the hell out of Mystic Falls altogether and leave the confusion of it behind him forever.

His quick trip to Italy wasn't enough - Klaus decided upon Rome for his first destination once he waited out the Bennett spell.

 _"I'll take you, wherever you want. Rome, Paris. Tokyo?"_

The memory echoed in his brain, the blunt force of it making him wince in imagined pain. It had been a ridiculous ploy to impress her, just a trick to prove he would always be the alpha male to whom all eventually submit.

Caroline wanted none of it. There was the spark of curiosity in her eye, but still she scoffed in his face and threw his bracelet down at his feet. He had faced stronger women before; it was the strength coming from one so young, so powerfully aware of the danger he posed to her and her friends, that ended up impressing him.

And he destroyed the bedrock to that strength with little more than a gnashing of his teeth. The impact of it kept coming in waves, disturbing Klaus to his core. Half of him wanted to tear out of the house and force his blood down her throat, the other half wanted to watch with a sick glee as she choked on her last breaths.

Klaus slid to the floor as the image filled him, his fingers feeling sticky like her blood was seeping into his skin. Head pounding, he laid back until each muscle of his body could relax the tension that had built immensely.

A werewolf bite acted quickly, and Caroline would need the cure within hours. Tyler would bring her back, he knew without a doubt.

He could wait. As long as it took, he would wait.

Caroline Forbes wasn't dying because of him. Klaus feared he could never forgive himself for allowing it.

He feared it might happen anyway.

Staring at the ceiling, he blinked away tears he hadn't noticed pooling in his eyes. How ridiculous.

By the time headlights flashed across the ceiling, Caroline's hacking coughs clearly audible for him, Klaus actually managed a small smile.

She was going to live, and he wouldn't have to lose her entirely.


	5. Coming Home

**Day 5 - Fusion**

 **He left his depressing family legacy for a reason, and even Mikael's death couldn't make the funeral home business an attractive prospect. An old flame, on the other hand, just might be the push Klaus needs to make a change. (Six Feet Under AU)**

* * *

"You want me to what?" Klaus wondered if his mother had finally gone insane. It figured she would wait until after Mikael died, when he might actually bear to come home again to visit her - the keyword being 'visit.' "I'm not staying in Mystic Falls to help Elijah run the business."

Esther regarded him coolly from across the breakfast table, imperiously stirring her tea. "Your brother is quite versed in the business dealings, but he's never had your artistic hand," she explained. "Without Mikael to do the restorations, we stand to lose potential intakes."

Jaw slack, Klaus processed just what she was asking. "I'm a painter, not a mortician."

Mikaelson Funeral Home was well respected in the community, somehow despite the coldness of Mikael Mikaelson. His terrible father, in name only, managed to fool the neighbors into seeing him as a businessman caring for those in their darkest time. No one understood what Klaus did, that Mikael got a perverse pleasure in gouging a grieving family for every cent they had just to bury a loved one.

"Don't be silly, Niklaus," Esther dismissed with a wave of her hand. "You're hardly making a steady income in New York, and you can paint just as well here. Mikael, for all his faults, he always knew you were suited to this work, which is why he made you assist with the embalming during your school years."

"Which is why I fled to New York the first chance I got." Klaus stood abruptly, nearly knocking over his chair. "I can't do this right now."

Just before he could leave, though, Esther pinned him with a knowing stare. "If you're going to town, please stop by the market. I'll text you a list."

Klaus slammed the door on his way out.

* * *

After storming out of the house, Klaus found himself wandering the town he hadn't missed at all. He enjoyed seeing his siblings, especially since he seemed to miss so much of Henrik's life; the quiet teen was hardly the little boy he left behind ten years earlier. And as much as he enjoyed his life in New York, his career hadn't taken off as he hoped and his savings were dwindling faster every day.

Still, moving home felt like defeat.

He sighed as he ducked into the market for his mother's list. Acquiescing might be a sign of weakness in his resolve, but Klaus had to admit she made a good case. His experience in the bleak, basement workshop of Mikaelson Funeral Home was a valuable trade, as reluctant as he was to say that Mikael did him any favors.

To seriously consider staying, Klaus would need to straighten out the licensing requirements for Virginia; his ten-year-dormant apprenticeship probably wouldn't matter much to the state. Restoration was more delicate and invasive work, and only Mikael's political connections Klaus to learn the intricacies as a student without official mortuary schooling.

Partnering with Elijah would be its own hurdle as well. The prodigal son returning to the family business was scandalous enough, but Klaus's natural abilities already exceeded those of his elder brother who never dared to leave in the first place. He worried that Elijah wouldn't be so amenable to the idea as his mother was adamant.

Lost in his thoughts, Klaus turned the corner to find crackers only to bump into a smaller body, sending a flurry of blonde curls to the floor. "Pardon, love," he said, automatically bending to help the girl up. He froze when he recognized her light giggle.

"No worries." She stood up, brushing off her jeans before meeting his shocked gaze with one of her own. "Klaus."

"Hello, Caroline," he greeted, still in awe to find his high school sweetheart just where he left her. "I thought you went to school in Chicago."

Clearing her throat, Caroline shifted uncomfortably as Klaus's eyes couldn't help roving over her. "I did, but I just moved back home last year," she answered reluctantly. "What about you? Last I heard, you were opening a gallery in New York."

"Just contributing," he clarified. "Mother and Henrik finally convinced me to visit after-" Klaus luckily didn't have to explain his new freedom in light of Mikael's death the month before; he could tell Caroline understood by her sober expression. "Anyway, there's not a lot left for me in New York."

"Oh."

He wanted to ask about her, a luxury Klaus had refused himself since all but abandoning her after their high school graduation for the greener pastures that turned dull once he no longer had Caroline in his corner. It wasn't her fault he needed to leave, but she was the one to cut all ties with him.

Perhaps if he had told her about his plans before, or at least said goodbye. But she had looked so beautiful, happy to shed her cap and gown so she could organize the event clean-up. He hated to watch her smile fall as he explained about the small inheritance from his birth father, money he planned to use to establish himself up in the city - alone.

It wasn't that he wanted to leave her; he just didn't want to screw up the future she had meticulously laid out for herself. So, he left with a final kiss on her cheek.

And looking at her, ten years older but no less beautiful, Klaus had no idea how he managed such a feat.

"You look well," he said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "Are you…"

Klaus trailed off, too many questions bouncing around his head to ask only one. Just like old times, he could see her irritation growing: her eyes narrowed, her arms crossed, her foot began to tap. Unlike old times, however, she sternly remained silent opposed to the burst of anger she couldn't hold back for long.

When she raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to answer, he had to bite the bullet and ask the question that scared him the most. "Are you happy?"

It must have taken Caroline by surprise, though he wasn't sure why. "Um, I-" She stopped herself, eyes wide as she seemed to be seriously considering her answer. A tear pooled at the corner of her eye unexpectedly. "I should go."

"Wait, Caroline." He reached for her wrist before she could flee. "Please."

"I don't owe you anything," she snapped, pulling herself free.

Klaus held his hands up peacefully. "I know," he admitted.

Softening, Caroline loosened her stiff posture ever so slightly. "Sorry, I'm a little on edge." She swallowed, as though unsure whether to continue. "I wasn't expecting to see you, ever again, and now you're here the day…"

"The day…?" he prodded gently. Klaus was never a warm person, but Caroline always seemed to be his exception. "Sweetheart."

She scoffed, crossing her arms again. "Today, Mom asked me to go back to Chicago," she finally answered. "I moved back to help during her first round of chemo, and she's officially in remission as of a few hours ago. I was stocking up for our celebration tonight."

Glancing down to her cart, Klaus noted Caroline's favorite ice cream among the various snacks and bottles of wine. He worried he was misunderstanding her, too afraid to hope. He kept quiet, waiting for her to fill in the blanks about what leaving Chicago had to do with his sudden arrival.

"God," she sighed. "I was actually thinking about staying in this godforsaken town, only for you to show up and remind me why I was so ready to leave all those years ago."

Klaus frowned. "Fair enough, I suppose," he muttered. "But you want to stay?"

"I like my life here." Slowly, the anger dissipated from her eyes as she spoke. "I'm working at the news station, an on-air reporter. It's a much better gig than the production assistant job I had in Chicago. I also help to advise the journalism club at the high school," she said. "It's been nice to feel like a part of the community again."

"That's the part I don't miss," he admitted. "The anonymity of the city was leaps better than the gossip on every corner here." Klaus could see at least two older ladies whispering and watching them have this very public conversation.

"Hello, Mrs. Fell!" Caroline called mischievously, wearing her 'kill them with kindness' smile. The ladies quickly found another aisle to continue shopping, leaving Klaus and Caroline to chuckle amiably with each other. Her smile sobered, though, when she glanced up at him. "So, when do you go back?"

Smirking, Klaus toyed with the rim of her cart as he edged closer. "Funnily enough, Mother doesn't want me to."

Caroline's face fell slack in surprise again. "W-what?"

"She wants me to help Elijah with the business," he explained. "I was actually considering it when I bumped into you."

"You hated it here!" Her whole face scrunched in utter confusion. "Why would you- How could- Why?"

Klaus shrugged, enjoying her familiar and expressive behavior. "New York isn't everything I wanted it to be, and it'd be nice to be around the family without Mikael poisoning everything." With his heart in his throat, he took another step toward her. "Do you maybe want to get lunch tomorrow?" Before she could even begin to formulate a reply, he rushed to assure her, "I know today is about your mom, but I'd really like to catch up."

Watching him shrewdly, Caroline was quiet for a long moment. "Okay, the Grill at noon," she agreed quietly. "I should get going, though, the ice cream is melting."

As though he couldn't help himself, Klaus tugged lightly at a curl lying on her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow, Caroline."

He watched her go, pleased at the small smile tilting her lips. For once, he felt hopeful about staying in Mystic Falls.

Maybe he should take his mother up on her offer after all.


	6. Inhuman

**Day 6 - Other Supernatural**

 **Klaus is almost ready to break his curse, but he refuses to do so without Katerina finally doing her part. She has managed to elude him so far with the help of various allies, but the latest distraction proves to be far more interesting to Klaus.**

* * *

"Funny," Klaus noted with a smirk. "Katerina usually prefers to employ male cannon fodder."

The little blonde merely stood before him, unafraid. She didn't even bother to reply. Her head canted to the side as she watched the Original draw closer to the door of his hotel room, where she had been waiting.

It was something of a game for Klaus in his hunt to break the curse restraining his wolf, to allow Katerina Petrova's various pets enough of a fight to be fun for him. The werewolf from whom she had stolen the moonstone lacked the strategy of battle; the vampire brothers she bounced between were too busy competing for her favor to put up a decent showing. Even Elijah was easily a pawn to the wily doppelganger, though at least daggering him was an actual challenge.

This girl, however, smelled young. Klaus couldn't sense any power, as he could on a vampire, wolf, or witch. Humans were often too stupid to realize the danger he posed, but they could still feel a frisson of unease in his sheer presence. She seemed almost serene.

But he had gone to great trouble in collecting the necessary ingredients to break his curse. Not using Katerina as his vampire sacrifice would be such a waste. He had followed her trail to a small college campus where blood and sex were easy to come by - her favorite habitat. Unable to draw her out from hiding, Klaus left hints of his arrival through well placed rumors and the occasional murder of a curly-haired brunette.

Katerina sent a message of her own: bleeding sorority girls appearing twice a day at his hotel room door, none of whom held any recollection of the bitch. Compulsion was a favorite of hers, he supposed. Well fed, he had no problem playing the long game as long as she stayed in town.

Then he found her witch.

"Did you know the Bennett girl?" Klaus asked teasingly, daring to brush the blonde curls from the strange woman's face. "I figured the grandmother was the draw for Katerina, all that knowledge and disdain for us Originals, but the girl… Oh, she had power." He gave a wicked smirk at the twitch in her otherwise impassive expression. "To die so young."

"At least it was quick," she replied hoarsely. "I won't thank you for snapping her neck, but I can be grateful she didn't suffer."

It was a small mercy, one of expedience rather than any real remorse. Klaus needed Katerina to retaliate, giving her an opportunity to make the mistake he needed to finally capture her.

The blonde waiting for him in front of his door as he returned from killing the Bennetts had been an odd form of retaliation, but he wasn't complaining.

Letting his fingernail drag down the skin of her neck, Klaus watched her curiously. "You don't seem like the type to have seen much suffering, love." He dug his nail in deeper, bringing her blood to the surface. When he expected to feel hunger at the scent on her skin, however, he frowned at the utter lack of desire to rip open the pulsing vein. Even after a thousand years, Klaus had never felt such apathy at the sight of human blood.

 _Human_ blood.

"What are you?" he hissed, pushing her up against the wall. Mikael-induced paranoia aside, it was the unknown threat that kept Klaus ever vigilant to his status in the supernatural world. He always knew the enemy he was up against, and he didn't like that Katerina had managed to find a weapon he never knew existed. Shoving the girl back harder, he yelled it in her face. "What are you?!"

His fingers pressed into her flesh, only to feel her shoulders expand with sharp spines biting into his hands. He let go immediately to jump back, and he watched in confusion as her skin slowly receded back to her bare shoulders. For a moment, he would have sworn her shoulders had puffed like a blowfish. "What are you?" he repeated more softly.

Standing straight, she walked toward him proudly to poke a sharp talon in his chest - literally, a bird's talon right where her index finger should be. "I'm not a what, I'm a who," she snapped. "My name is Caroline Forbes, and you don't scare me."

"But Katerina must if you do her bidding," he countered.

Caroline rolled her eyes and gestured for him to open the door to his hotel room. "Are you going to let me in, or what?"

"Why are you here? I don't negotiate with the help."

"I hear you don't negotiate at all," she pointed out humorlessly. "Look, you killed my friend. I think that buys me a frank conversation about what the hell you're doing on my campus and chasing after the one person left in the world who cares about me."

Just curious enough not to kill her outright, Klaus nodded as he swiped the key card to his door and led her inside. "Katerina Petrova cares for no one but herself."

"Katherine Pierce saved me," Caroline answered hotly. "Hate her all you want, but I don't want to see her dead for some shit that happened five hundred years ago. God, get a grip."

Anger flared within Klaus, and he clenched his fists in rage. "For the last time," he gritted out, "what are you, and why are you here?"

Curious or not, his patience had its limits.

Caroline scoffed as she made herself comfortable on the couch. "You're like a billion years old, right? Surely, you've heard of mutants from time to time."

"I have," Klaus nodded in realization. "But as witches and werewolves pass down their genetic traits to manifest in predictable ways, mutants seem to defy logic and reason of current science."

With an almost imperceptible shudder, Caroline met his eyes with hers blazing. "Yep, we're all just freaks for people to write off or use for science. Geez, no wonder Kat hates you."

"Someone's projecting," Klaus commented, shrewdly noting her aversion to the scientific aspect of her situation. "I assume Katerina rescued you from some dreadful experimentation."

Caroline hardened, her skin almost turning into stone as he watched. "I'm what they call a 'survivor,' practically immortal because my cells can somehow mimic animal adaptations. My father trained me to use this power at will, since I was a young child who scared the local swimming hole by staying underwater for too long. Instead of drowning like they feared, I just grew gills. I thought Dad was teaching me to protect myself from a world that would only love me if I could fit in."

Though he didn't want to, Klaus felt an odd kinship with the young woman lost in her memories.

"But he didn't want to protect me, he just wanted me to be strong enough." Klaus could hear her teeth grinding. "I needed to be strong enough to withstand the real work performed by the Augustine Society. He was a founding member of this 'scientific research group' meant to extort genetic abnormalities for whatever findings could improve life for the 'normal' people, only to find out he had a mutant freak for a daughter himself. All my life, and he just wanted me as a test subject."

Klaus knew what it meant to be held against his will, even by his own mind when the hunter's curse had taken hold of him. "Were you alone?" He didn't like the thought of that.

"Not even in my abilities." Caroline chuckled, though it sounded sad. "Armando Munoz," she said reverently. "He was my friend. He tried to save me, and they annihilated every cell in his body just to prove that they could. Even at absolute zero, our bodies were able to survive like we were in a deep hibernation. The last time they put him in the freezer, they tested his ability to adapt without molecular movement. He couldn't."

Standing, Caroline began to pace the room and Klaus tracked her movements carefully. "I was going to be next, but Kat swooped in killed them all in a blink. I didn't even know vampires existed, let alone all the cool tricks you get."

"Some would call your abilities 'cool tricks,'" Klaus said, considering what she had shared. "Absolute zero. It's not very sporting to tell me how to kill you."

"They did it in the name of bettering the human condition, despite the inhuman depravity their science required," Caroline spat. "Even you're not that cruel."

With a dark smile, Klaus stood to crowd her space, though she didn't cower to him. He liked that. "You'd be surprised, love. I did kill your friend, after all."

"In a mostly painless way," she countered. "You still had shit reasons to do it, but you don't pretend you're anything less than the evil you are. The Augustine Society thought they were the good guys."

Klaus leaned forward, mere inches from her face as he regarded her cool expression. "If your enemy is already dead, then why are you here fighting Katerina's battle? Surely, you've earned a bit of rest. Travel, perhaps? Rome or Paris; Tokyo is nice this time of year."

Scoffing, Caroline pushed away from him. "My bag is already packed," she admitted. Klaus frowned as her legs seemed to disappear into the decorations of his room. "I'm not here to fight you, Klaus. I just had to keep you occupied long enough for Kat to leave the country. Did you know the cuttlefish can blend almost perfectly with its surroundings in the ocean, the camouflage is unmatched in the animal kingdom."

He gripped her arms, even as they too disappeared within his firm hold. Klaus could feel her flesh and the pumping of her blood, but even his vampiric senses could barely see her. "Do you really think I'll just let you go?"

"Do you really think you have a choice?" she challenged before a second set of arms suddenly appeared from behind her still visible torso and snapped his neck.

When Klaus awoke, he found himself utterly alone and thirsting for something even greater than his vengeance against Katerina.

He wanted Caroline Forbes and the challenge she presented.


	7. A Familiar Face

**Day 7 - Ideal Endgame Scene**

 **A year, a century, what was time to an immortal? For Caroline, forty years meant love, laughter, fear and grief. With her daughters grown, she's ready to stop playing it safe and to go looking for the adventures the world once promised.**

* * *

She had forgotten how lonely it could be, the fate of a vampire. At home, the girls knew exactly who she was and what that meant - but they couldn't possibly understand the weight of outliving such a phase in her life. Humans went through a handful of these complete shifts, but Caroline was realizing she would have to do this over and over again until she met the wrong end of a pointy stick.

Having buried both Stefan and Alaric years before and signed the Bennett School over to Josie and Lizzie, Caroline decided to take a well deserved retirement trip around the world for her sixty-fifth birthday. She had left a week earlier, kissing the girls at the airport. "I love you, call me every day."

"Every week," Josie promised sternly, onlookers probably confused to see a young woman asking her mother to call every day.

Because Caroline didn't look her nearly sixty-five years; she didn't look a day over seventeen, and she never would. It was a realization that came in waves, one that hit her again as she flew over the Atlantic to South Africa. The list of postcards and souvenirs she had planned to buy was much too short for someone of her age, but everyone had died or moved on with their very human lives.

The girls, obviously, would receive the brunt of her gifts. Matt never cared for her messages, and Elena didn't even know who Caroline was anymore. Some of the school's students kept in touch, but it wasn't the same.

She was always missing the people she loved, and she wanted someone to miss her.

Shaking her head, Caroline glanced around the plane to distract herself from the morose thoughts. Brass curls caught her attention, but she turned to her book before she could let herself wonder why.

* * *

His lips were so pink.

Caroline wasn't drunk enough to get lost in such an observation; still, she couldn't help staring at the guy trying to talk her up. It was probably her fault for grabbing a drink in the hotel bar, where most people were just trying to get laid. She wasn't looking for companionship, though, merely some human interaction to mask her loneliness.

The guy was cute enough, just not to Caroline's taste. _But those lips._ She found herself frowning as she tried to figure out why she felt so strangely attracted to a man's mouth and nothing else.

"Anyway," he said in his Australian accent, shoving his hands into his pockets as he gauged her reaction. "Want to get out of here?"

That finally jerked Caroline back to awareness, unable to hide the mean laugh that bubbled out of her mouth. "No," she answered more politely. "I'm good here, thanks."

Grumbling, he left her alone at the bar once more.

Caroline swiped her tongue across her lips, wondering just what she wanted to get from this trip. While she would have never given the slick smooth-talker a chance, was she even looking for that kind of adventure? So focused on the school and Josie's kids, she'd hardly given consideration to the fact she had a long eternity to go. Picking up a guy in the hotel bar didn't scream 'spend the rest of your life with me,' but it didn't have to be forever.

It had been so long since she had even thought about dating. Stefan wanted her to be happy, and Lizzie had tried to get her on a dating website. Though Caroline had automatically disregarded the idea, she knew better than to shut off the possibility of meeting someone new.

Taking another shot of tequila, she only had one thing to say about that. "Not tonight," she muttered to herself.

* * *

The plan for South Africa was a conservation excursion with local scientists, and Caroline was armed with her fancy camera to take excellent photos of the animals for her grandkids. Josie was the green thumb of the family, so she also wanted to get plenty of information on the vegetation and how it was cultivated - education had become a vital part of the Forbes-Saltzman vacation experience.

Her excursion guide had an unfortunately dull voice, but Caroline was too enthralled with the scenery to care much. She snapped photos left and right the whole time; it wasn't until the guide accidentally crossed her camera's path that she paused to check the display. Whatever the good doctor had been laughing at, Caroline didn't know, but she grinned so widely that dimples cut deep into her cheeks.

For some reason, Caroline was struck by the sight.

The moment passed quickly as a dazzle of zebras galloped past their Humvee. Gasping at their powerful leaps, she brought her camera up to document the moment.

* * *

"Would you like to come to a party with us?" The older couple had been kind to her throughout the week's excursions, their cultured personalities something like a fascination for Caroline to soak up. They'd taken a shine to her genuine enthusiasm and witty observations, and she loved how much they made her laugh. This was that she had pictured on a world tour, picking up fashionable friends and making pleasant relationships with interesting people. The wife, Sita, watched her excitedly as she considered the invitation.

Rolling her eyes, Caroline smiled. "What party?"

"I have a business associate in the area," Abram explained, his hand affectionately toying with Sita's ponytail. "He's hosting a small fundraiser for his daughter's school. I assure you, Sita already wrote a check three times larger than necessary, so you wouldn't have to give a thing."

"Don't mind him, he's just angry my stock portfolio had better returns this month," Sita teased. "But really, you must come."

Caroline fidgeted under their earnest gazes. "I don't want to be a burden," she admitted, "but I organized a number of school fundraisers in my day and would love to donate."

Laughing, Sita nudged her playfully. "In your day… You're making us old folk feel even older, Caroline."

As Caroline's smile fell at the unsubtle dig at her apparent age, she knew Sita didn't mean anything by it. She had no idea that Caroline was much older than she looked. It was harmless fun.

Harmless, though she found herself brushing away a tear when Abram distracted his wife with another information packet he seemed to enjoy collecting. Friends were important, even if they would never know the real her; Caroline would just have to enjoy the time she had with them.

She hoped one day she could hope for something more lasting.

* * *

The gorgeous villa was larger than Caroline had expected, and she just stared in awe as their cab drew closer. "What kind of business is this associate in? Because they must be loaded to afford all this."

Abram chuckled. "He's a bit of a mystery, I'm afraid, though I know he has diverse interests all over the world," he explained, opening the door to let himself out and the women followed suit. "South Africa was a new venture for him, but he seems to have set himself up nicely in the last year or so."

"And he's handsome," Sita added with a suggestive arch of her eyebrows. "A catch for any single girl."

"Oh, I'm m-" Once again, Caroline felt the aching realization that she was a single girl. And despite her promise to remain open to opportunities, she wasn't prepared for one to come so soon. "I'm not really in the market right now."

"Talking real estate already, Abram?" A new and maddeningly familiar voice joined them in the driveway, and Caroline turned to find Klaus Mikaelson striding toward them. "And I see you've brought a guest."

Smirking, Klaus slid to a stop before her and reached for her hand. He brought it to his lips with that infuriating glint of triumph in his eyes. "Hello, Caroline."

Struck silent by the shock of his presence, Caroline was jostled by Sita's enthusiastic greeting. "What a small world, Klaus. How do you know our Caroline?"

With a too charming smile, Klaus held Sita and Abram's shoulders still so he could maintain intense eye contact. "Go inside and join the party, Caroline will find you if she pleases," he compelled.

As the couple obediently entered the villa, Caroline crossed her arms in irritation and very nearly stomped her foot. "What the hell, Klaus?"

"Yes, sweetheart, it's lovely to see you, too." His smirk melted into that bashful smile she hadn't seen in decades. "Are you enjoying your visit?"

Something in his tone hit Caroline's ear oddly; he seemed too prepared to see her. Lizzie was the one to suggest South Africa, and Josie organized the excursion as an early birthday present, but surely… "What," she hissed, "did you do?"

"Come in," he said, unconcerned. "I'll pour some champagne, only the best for your birthday party."

"Klaus-"

"Please." Klaus held out his arm, eyes much too innocent for the man himself. "I just...missed you. I thought it was about time to meet again."

Sighing, Caroline could actually feel her resolve crumbling. She reluctantly placed her hand in the crook of his arm, allowing him to lead in her inside. Damn, if his soft spot for birthdays wasn't adorable.

"So, did you trick my daughters into getting me here, or were they complicit in this little setup?"

Klaus just shrugged as they walked toward the refreshment bar, couples dancing and chatting in the next room. "Josie and Lizzie were none the wiser, they just wanted to give their mother a good birthday present," he promised. "Hope, however, was indeed complicit in sharing the details of said gift and your itinerary."

"I knew I shouldn't have hired a Mikaelson, even if she is the only normal one in the bunch," Caroline muttered.

Staffing a magic school required delicate inquiries, and it was her own fault that she reached out to Klaus for witchy contacts she and Alaric didn't have when they first reopened the Armory as the Bennett School. Though Hope was never a student, she joined their teaching roster as soon as she could. Caroline tried not to bond with her, really, but it was just impossible.

The only condition was that she couldn't bring her father's grudges to the school; children were not collateral damage. For twenty years, Hope had easily complied.

It seemed that Caroline's luck had run out.

Klaus popped a fancy bottle of champagne, smiling when she automatically reached for her glass. "Hope is exceptional," he corrected, "but I digress. Presumptuous as I know you're dying to call me, I didn't want you to spend the day alone."

"It's not my birthday," she burst out, incredulous that this was really happening. Her shout drew a few glances, so she sipped mulishly at her drink. "Not until Saturday."

Chuckling to himself, Klaus looked down to his toes. "I couldn't wait," he admitted.

Her challenging glare lessened as Caroline noted the familiar curls of his brass hair, the pink of his lips, and the deep dimples daring her to be angry. "You are presumptuous," she pointed out, though she also grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the dancers. "What happened to waiting, 'however long it takes?'"

They were swept up into the grand waltz playing, and Caroline felt lighter than air. She wasn't sure if it was the bubbles or the hybrid, but she didn't hate it.

Even better, the warm presence of his hand reminded her that she didn't have to feel it alone. This friend, or whatever he was, this one she could keep.

 _Forever_.


End file.
